Paul Royka on Fine Art & Antiques

Smoke and mirrors is what I’ve often said to my friends who ask”Can you believe that gallery went out of business?”  Two major New York galleries recently left their clients and investors wondering what is going on.  According to Maine Antique Digest, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries is padlocked and there are multi-million dollar paintings at stake in what appears to be multiple law suits by clients.  And another gallery Berry-Hill Galleries in New York also recently declared bankruptcy.  Now what makes this one so big is that Berry-Hill is a gallery that had sales over 20 million dollars and major exhibitions with catalog introductions by leading art history experts such as Princeton University’s John Wilmerding who recently retired and consults for Alice Walton (Walmart family) and her Crystal Bridges Museum project.

Over the years I’ve learned not to be too impressed with the big boys in the market.  Remember both Sotheby’s and Christies (the big boys of the auction world) were both indicted by the Feds for price fixing and not treating their consignor’s fairly sending the chairman of Sotheby’s to jail for a year.  Smoke and mirrors.